Hi Bill,
Many many thanks for the large reply! Huis Doorn, oh my, I cant begin to even explain, all is left as it was, 1 room that empty, got made back into its settings as it was when Wilhelm lived there, all done from pics ... all the rich furtniture, items, also clear to see stuff was brought from palaces and way bigger places then Huis Doorn. Carpets only rolled partly, the cupboard with tableware, so huge I cant explain, but also lovely details like the special Kaiserliche fork, which was also a knife. The Kaiser had a handycap you know, which he hid very well. The gorgeous (!!) uniforms show 1 sleeve shorter/adapted to his uneveness. The left arm, was about 15 centimeters/5.9 inch shorter then the right! Birth was not very smooth and the arm was torn out of the shouldersocket, that wasn''t noticed till much later. He wasn't praralised but nerves got damaged and growth never was as it should be. It caused him much trouble, grief, hurt. 1 of the things that made him a bit much in the "can be a difficult person to please or like" field to some. What is very cool to see, the bond with Oranje (dutch royalty) family, and the english queen Victoria and family! Hell, look at Wilhhelm II in his youth and see prince Charles in the face! Wilhelm II? MUCH smaller ears tho
Too bad Wilhelm lived so in the passed, not much pics/evidence of his kids, so, not much Viktoria Luise. 2 amazing drawings of her wedding, and a portrait in her moms resting room, is about it. Wilhelms mom has more attention. Especially the enlargend pic of her riding horseback in english uniform, in Wilhelms study, wow ... smashing! But also, the blue ceramics given as weddingpresent, that true royaly blue english Wedgewood I mean, stunningly gorgeous ... and so very much more ... from something as small as an EK 1, framed, in a doorway, to something like a giant silver drakkar viking boat given by German government, a HUGE table decoration piece, with a great story attached, its all so amazing ... Anyhow, too much in that house ... and outside, so much too! The Auguste Viktoria Rose Garden, the "Der Fischer" statue, and the horsestatue given by Preu�ian women, the mausoleum, the parc, gosh ...
Lost myself a bit, sorry, so, pics, yeah some, but only outside. No pics allowed inside! Not long ago, the house + everything in it, was made a foundation (I guess, not sure if that translates well, but, anyway) and the rules of visiting changed. It got more open to the public, BUT, with more restriction. Many things got renovated, restored, with original stuff, fabric, material, all found in the attic. Again, the house was so much smaller then the family used to live in ... everything was there and too much of it; carpets, curtains, name it ... a team of superskilled museum-restorers got to work. Again, amazing! Also again, too bad no pics can be taken inside. Outside you can take pics. They sell books though! With pics inside the house. I have both books near me here. I can scan pics if you want, but I think I need to send them by PM for copyrights?
Also, they sell reprinted copies of genuine pics, original shots from back then. They still need to digitalize a lot, but already over 5000 of Wilhelm II + family pics are available! Not cheap tho. But, I have here 5 pics of Viktoria Luise, lovely. They will be framed with the skull you see above. The pics are repro ofcourse, so, the skull can be repro too. It looks great, so, why not? Also, the poscards, are very real, they"d need a real skull. There is 1
over at ebays right now? Somehow, it look wrong tho. What do you think? Prongs could be OK, but, they should be on an extra firm piece of metal? And, a maker on a Totenkopf? Weird. Also, detail, there should be more, no? The top hook-eye-thing thing, looks weak too? BUT, it looks awesome as skull! Just dont know if its a good 1, or a (good?) fake.
A busby, like you say, together, complete, oh my yes, maybe this year, or next, we ll visit the historic museum in Rastat Germany, where Viktoria Luise her uniform is too. Id love to see THAT busby! Der Ritmeister, yes, YES, you wont believe this, but, 1 of the cards I have comes from Rittmeister, I think its the same shop? And he actualy told my uncle about Doorn. We didnt know! Just starting to dig into all of this totally amazing Wilhelm stuff.
BTW, Rittmeister has a busby for sale, and a Totenkopf, but, LOOK at that price, ouch! Nah Im not buying, and, I wouldn"t have no proper way to display something so pretty, it needs a proper loving home, where it gets protection, and the care it deserves. Coz, look at that thing, totally amazing ... No I rrrrealy want to see Viktoria Luises busby, yeah for sure, I will! But, this is something else to actually have up close. Well, besides the fact that it costs some limbs *LOL*
Anyway, we already have Joe 's superawesome busbyskull
here, for all who missed out. Aint that cool?! And see too that it looks way better then the skull on ebay ... OK, I reached my wordcount today I think *LOL*
Bye,
KR
